Journal Article Review on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

              There is a lot of research and information about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).  Today I chose to review a journal article entitled Misbehavior or Missed Opportunity?  Challenges in Interpreting the Behavior of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.  I will give a brief summary of the article, the connections I made through the reading materials, personal experiences, and some final thoughts about the article.  It is an intriguing topic to discuss in our society today. 

                The article is very reader friendly, and an interesting perspective.  Students with ASD are being diagnosed in increasing numbers each year, and dramatically over the last decade (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011).    Everyone seems to be talking about autism.  They each have an opinion about ASD and what is to blame for its rapid growth. This article looks at the perceptions of children with ASD in the classroom and challenges our thoughts on whether the behaviors exhibited are misbehavior or missed social opportunities. 

                They do this by observing a young girl with ASD in a typical kindergarten classroom.  The child is working on a math paper with a para.  The child starts to interact with another boy in the classroom, mimicking the teacher by asking the boy questions using an alphabet book.  Although it is obvious that the para feels the child is “off-task” and tries to redirect the child back to the math page, the child repeatedly tries to go back to the interaction with the boy.  The boy engages the girl appropriately, but the behavior is redirected by both the teacher and the para.  In the end, the girl finishes the math paper with no assistance, and re-engages the boy in the teacher/student role playing they were doing.

                The question was then posed whether the behavior was misbehavior or an attempt by the young girl to engage socially with her classmate.  Since the math page was of no academic concern, the article questions whether the interaction should have been encouraged rather than redirected.  If the goal of the student with ASD is to be able to help them integrate appropriate social behaviors with their peers, then we need to take a further look into how to go about encouraging that when it happens.  What we are currently interpreting as “misbehavior” might actually be a missed learning opportunity.  Thus, the para missed reinforcing a critical instructional goal for the girl. 

                The 2004 IDEA mandates that teachers implement evidence-based practices.  However, there are challenges with accomplishing this mandate in the classroom.  Teachers may not know how to go about implementing these practices due to a lack of adequate training and clear descriptions. 

Many early childhood settings include not only children with ASD, but also children with other developmental disabilities, students at-risk, and/or typically developing peers.  A number of evidence-based practices identified for young children with ASD have not yet been applied to children with other disabilities or their typically developing peers (Stahmer, 2007) (Hart & Whalon, 2013).

Teachers need to realize if they want to change the behaviors of the student, they need to change something that they are doing first.  Or, they need to change the way that they are looking at and interpreting the child’s behavior.  This presents a challenge for teachers to find opportunities within the school day to encourage natural social communication for children with ASD.  Children in the early childhood years are at a critical point in their development for learning social communication skills.  If we don’t learn how to promote these skills early on, the child with ASD is at a real disadvantage.  The article concludes that peer-mediated instruction, scripts, and providing choices for students with ASD are all strong evidence-based practices that encourage social communication skills in young children with ASD.   

                My personal experience with children with ASD would definitely concur with the need for appropriate social communication skills development.  The child I had in kindergarten, with no para, was on the spectrum.  She would yell, run away, kick, and spit almost daily.  It was very difficult to deal with her behaviors while still attending to the needs of the rest of the class.  I don’t think that proper integration of children with ASD in the general education classroom can take place without the help of a para.  I do feel that the communication barriers, and the ways that she was trying to communicate with me, were likely misunderstood to some extent.  On the other hand, the young man in middle school who I tutored, was not as non-compliant as my kindergarten student.  Adam was very bright, but the hormonal changes of adolescence were hard to control and he was therefore unable to attend school.  He would hide when he felt overwhelmed by a situation.  Teaching him one-on-one made his behavior easier to manage, but practicing his social skills was obviously limited.  

                In conclusion, this article brings up a valid point about the way we interpret behavior.  Children with ASD may not be misbehaving as we would first perceive.  It may be their unique way of handling a desire to interact with their classmates or teachers.  Therefore, we need to seek opportunities in which to encourage these spontaneous social interactions and navigate them in appropriate ways.  It is important to have clear goals, and make sure that all the educational professionals are on the same page.  I like how the article ended, so I leave you with this quote.  “Strategies such as using peer-mediated interventions, scripts, and choice can provide educators with practical tools that can positively impact the social communication skills of children with ASD while also promoting the academic learning of all children.” (Hart & Whalon, 2013)

References:

Hart, J., & Whalon, K. (2013).  Misbehavior or missed opportunity?  Challenges in 

          interpreting the behavior of young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. 

          Early Childhood Education Journal, 41(4), 257-263.

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